Boom.
And that’s exactly how the Golden State Warriors return to the Western Conference finals for the sixth time in eight years.
It wasn’t beautiful. It was often ugly. But the Dubs still closed the door with an accent, beating the Memphis Grizzlies 110-96 in Game 6 to move on.
The changes will create nightmares for the coaching staff, but for now we are celebrating match 6 Clay, the heroism of Kevan Looney and a little brilliance of Andrew Wiggins.
And we value players by weighing our expectations for everyone.
Note: The league’s average real shooting rate (TS) this season was 56.6%
Draymond Green
39 minutes, 14 points, 15 rebounds, 8 assists, 1 steal, 4 rebounds, 4 fouls, 6-for-14 shots, 0-for-3 threes, 2-for-2 free throws, 47.0% TS, +19
It wasn’t an effective performance, but it’s still nice to see Green’s double-digit result. Everything seems to work better when he is ready to shoot and when he wants to attack.
The changes were terrible – it felt like there were seven or eight. And the ball defense wasn’t as good as we expected. But Dray is still one of the best players alive and deserves a huge prop for his bounce.
Rating: B
Post-game bonus: He led the team in assists.
Andrew Wiggins
41 minutes, 18 points, 11 rebounds, 1 steal, 3 blocks, 2 fouls, 2 spins, shooting 7 vs. 16, threes 3 vs. 5, free throws 1 for 2, 53.3% TS, +20
Like so many Warriors, it wasn’t a good first half for the Wiggins. But the second half was one of the best basketball he ever played.
He knocked in many big blows and had a series of possessions in which he took the ball.
His defense was phenomenal and he was all over the glass. If these were just second-half scores, he would easily have been A +.
However, as it is …
Rating: A
Post-game bonus: Leads the team to plus / minus.
Caven Looney
35 minutes, 4 points, 22 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 block, 2 rebounds, 4 fouls, shooting 2 for 7, 28.6% TS, +10
Before we praise Luni for his outstanding performance, we have to praise Green and Steph Curry for speaking out against the coaching staff’s strange insistence on starting players who don’t really want to play, as they did with Jonathan Cumming in Games 4 and 5.
Stephen Adams led the Grizzlies with 10 rebounds. Luni made 11 offensive fights. He was an animal and the main reason why the Dubs had 70 (70 !!!) fights in this game.
Luni was a force. And although his result was not strong, he did much to facilitate the attack. Given that his role changes from night to night, we can’t say enough about the work he did, his return to the starting lineup, 35 minutes of play and the dominance of paint.
Rating: A +
Post-game bonus: Lead the wrestling team.
Steph Curry
40 minutes, 29 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal, 2 blocks, 3 turnovers, 3 fouls, 10-for-27 shots, 6-for-17 threes, 3-for-4 free throws, 50.4% TS, +16
Curry was very sweet to the Grizzlies after the game. He hugged Ja Morant and Dylan Brooks. He spoke passionately to Morant’s media and the future of the organization. He said he was happy with their pettiness.
Steph Curry for Ja Morant: “He’s a problem.”
About Grizzlies: “All the nonsense, pettiness and all that, I love it.” Pic.twitter.com/urHhqbLcy9
– Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) May 14, 2022
What he didn’t say was how happy he would be to have them in the rearview mirror. Memphis plays with Curry better than any team in the NBA, and that was on display again on Friday. Curry just couldn’t do it for three-thirty. When he finally found his shot, the buckets began to flow and he left the game.
But it wasn’t a very good match for him. You know, by his high standards. To the next round. I don’t want to be the guy who defends him in the conference finals.
Rating: C
Clay Thompson
42 minutes, 30 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 blocks, 3 rebounds, 2 steals, 11 to 22 shots, 8 to 14 three-pointers, 68.2% TS, +14
I want to give Clay A + for his work on social media, done from the locker room after the game.
What an icon.
But the game also deserves A +. Was it Clay’s greatest game, statistically speaking? It’s not even close. But when the Warriors turned the ball over, as if out of fashion and blocked by Memphis, Clay knocked. And as they began to build the lead, Clay knocked. And as they began to postpone the game, Clay knocked.
It was a game that required a difficult, difficult, STRONG performance, and Clay did it.
Game 6 Glue forever.
Rating: A +
Post-game bonus: Lead the team by points.
Nemanja Belica
8 minutes, 0 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 assist, shooting 0 for 1, threes 0 for 1, 0.0% TS, -2
Bjeli didn’t get much time to play, but I thought he did pretty well. He broke the glass more than the numbers suggested, and did decent things in an attack.
Rating: B
Damien Lee
11 minutes, 3 points, 2 rebounds, 1 reversal, 1 foul, shooting 1 vs. 2, threes 1 vs. 2, 75.0% TS, -4
Lee had to play a role in this game with all the injuries sustained by the Dubs. He was holding on, but he didn’t look very well. He had a very bad turnaround, but again, who didn’t?
Rating: B-
Post-game bonus: The team’s worst plus / minus.
Jordan Poole
24 minutes, 12 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block, 2 turnovers, shooting 4 against 15, threes 2 for 11, 2 for 3 free throws, 36.8% TS, -3
Poole will also be very, very happy that he won’t have to face the Grizzlies again until next season. He closed a little in this series and Friday was no exception. He added to the bitterness, which was fun, but didn’t add much to the court.
Lots of missed buckets, a few bad punching decisions and not too much control.
Rating: D +
DNP on Friday: Jonathan Cuminga, Moses Moody, Juan Toscano-Anderson
Inactive on Friday: Andre Iguodala, Gary Peyton II, Otto Porter Jr., James Wiseman
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